Kerry's Favorite American Poet

The Negro Worker ^ | November/December 1932 | Langston Hughes (1902–67)

[RBroadfoot]

Goodbye,
Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,
Beat it on away from here now.
Make way for a new guy with no religion at all—
A real guy named
Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME—
I said, ME!

[RBroadfoot]

From Langston Hughes -- proud Marxist, Communist, Leninist, Stalinist -- the poet who gave Kerry the "Let America be America Again" theme.

[Taft in '52]

One More "S" in the U.S.A.

by Langston Hughes

Put one more s in the U.S.A.
To make it Soviet.
One more s in the U.S.A.
Oh, we'll live to see it yet.
When the land belongs to the farmers
And the factories to the working men-
The U.S.A. when we take control
Will be the U.S.S.A. then.

Now across the water in Russia
They have a big U.S.S.R.
The fatherland of the Soviets-
But that is mighty far
From New York, or Texas, or California, too.
So listen, fellow workers,
This is what we have to do.

Put one more S in the U.S.A.
[Repeat chorus]

But we can't win by just talking.
So let us take things in our hand.
Then down and away with the bosses' sway-
Hail Communistic land.
So stand up in battle and wave our flag on high,
And shout out fellow workers
Our new slogan in the sky:

Put one more S in the U.S.A.

But we can't join hands together
So long as whites are lynching black,
So black and white in one union fight
And get on the right track.
By Texas, or Georgia, or Alabama led
Come together, fellow workers
Black and white can all be red:

Put one more S in the U.S.A.

Oh, the bankers they all are planning
For another great big war.
To make them rich from the worker's dead,
That's all the war is for.
So if you don't want to see bullets holding sway
Then come on, all you workers,
And join our fight today:

Put one more S in the U.S.A.
To make it Soviet.
One more S in the U.S.A.
Oh, we'll live to see it yet.
When the land belongs to the farmers
And the factories to the working men -
The U.S.A. when we take control
Will be the U.S.S.A. then.

Published in Daily Worker (April 2, 1934)

[Williams]

I missed this. Exactly what is Kerry's connection to this poet?

[maro]

It's not really poetry, is it.

[SubMareener]

He is quoting a line that goes "Let America be America!", but really means "Let America go Communist!"

[Taft in '52]

Kerry has often quoted from Langston Hughes' 1938 poem "Let America Be America Again." Recently, he wrote a preface to an anthology of Hughes' poetry. More information is available at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040701/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_hughes_poem&e=1&ncid=.

[RBroadfoot]

http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/170475

Kerry first recited Hughes in his speech to commemorate Brown v Board. See attached link.

Since then Kerry has repeated "let America be America again", presumably because he thinks there's something wrong with America. Since he explicitly cites Hughes, I suppose Kerry means that America hasn't gone socialist or, should I say, Soviet.